You are worth it

It may not be necessary but if it makes you happy then do it. You do what makes everyone around you happy all the time. You deserve to be happy too. I have to remind myself that I am worth it. Those around you are worth everything you do for them, and you are worth pampering yourself every now and then too. You have to put yourself first from time to time. You can't be there for those around you if you don't take care of yourself. It doesn't mean you do anything or everything, it means there are times when you do something for yourself. Like when you have dental work done, even though the laughing gas is extra money, your worth it. It is okay to say no I can't, when you can't. And if you're exhausted it is okay to take a quick nap before you take care of everything everyone needs you to do. It is okay to share but don't leave yourself with nothing to do it.

Take notes then decide

Keeping track of how you are affected by someone or something, will help you decide if you are going to let it affect you. Many things have to be considered, but first be honest whether it had a negative or a positive affect on you. Keep in mind that a negative affect can only bring a negative outcome. A positive affect can only bring a positive outcome. So being honest from the start is the most important decision you have in making sure you have any chance of a positive outcome. If you know a certain place brings up negative thoughts, then don't go there. If a person brings negativity in your life, then stay away from them. If you know you are always running late, then for now on leave earlier. If you don't want to regret something, then don't do anything that you might regret. We all make mistakes but you can only learn from your mistakes, if you are honest with yourself when you make one. Whether it is a person, place or thing that affects you negatively, you have to avoid it so it can't affect you. There are songs that I absolutely love but the negative thoughts that they bring up means I can't listen to them. There are many foods that taste delicious but the heartburn it causes makes me choose not to eat them.

You will waste your leftovers if you don't eat them

After a good meal, you put the leftovers in the fridge so you can enjoy it again. Having a meal that only needs heated up, means no shopping, cooking, or cleaning up any day you choose. That is going to save you time and money. I watched a show of Oprah's two decades ago that showed you had to eat leftovers within a few days. I have never forgotten the test she did on bacteria in leftovers in the fridge. Chinese food had less than twenty four hours. Everything else was mostly still edible up to five days. When you put away your leftovers you have every intention to eat it. But sometimes you put it off so long that it gets buried deep in the fridge. I got so tired of wasting food so we have a scheduled left over day at least once a week. If there is something in there that we just aren't going to eat our dogs get an unexpected leftovers day too. Saving time and money as you clean out your fridge. If it's important to do, you got to make it important to make a plan and just do it.

You can become immobilized by it

When negative thoughts are weighing heavy on your mind, they immobilize you. You can't move past what has happened in your past. You have no physical energy to get up and get moving because when you are mentally exhausted you automatically become physically exhausted too. To maintain your overall good health you have to be both physically and mentally healthy. Your thoughts make up the reality you live. There unfortunately will be many times throughout your life when you are faced with a negative situation that you must endure. That's just life. But you must learn how to accept it, learn what you need to from it, then JUST FLUSH IT out of your mind before it immobilizes you. To have a positive outcome you have to have a positive outlook. And if you keep it fresh on your mind there won't be a possibility of a positive outcome for you. You will become immobilized with an avalanche of negative thoughts. You can't flush away what happened but you can JUST FLUSH IT out of your mind so it can't do anymore damage mentally or physically to you. Choosing your thoughts is just as important as choosing what you eat.

You can't fix it until you acknowledge that it is broken

Admitting that you have a problem is the only way you know you need to fix it. If you don't see it as a problem then no matter how many times someone else tells you that there is problem, you can't see it. Therefore you will not do anything about it and the problem will continue. Once you see it as a problem then you know that dealing with the problem is the only way the problem will go away. Have you ever known someone who has an anger problem? When you ask them why they are so angry all the time, they get even angrier. As they angrily try to tell you why they are angry they have a long list of reasons. The list can go back months, years or even a decade ago. Instead of dealing with the situation when it angered them, they have carried it with them. If they would have dealt with it at the time it happened and JUST FLUSHED IT then they wouldn't be still angry about it. You can't change what happened that angered you, what's done is done. Carrying the anger with you will only add fuel to the fire when you get angry over anything else. And that is dangerous to yourself and anyone else who you spew your anger on. Let go of the painful experiences from your past and JUST FLUSH IT out of your mind. Peace of mind is just a FLUSH away.

What would my loved ones say to the Long Island medium?

When our loved ones pass away we are left behind to try and pick up the pieces. Nothing will ever be the same yet we long for things to be like they used to be. As I watched the show Long Island Medium tonight, I wandered what the spirits would say to Theresa to me. Although my tears are flowing for those on the show, part of them are for my own sadness for the passing of those I have lost. I find myself zoning out unable to hear the show, as I wander what message my loved ones would have for me. After the show ended I was wandering if their spirits were watching me from beyond. Then I began to wander when I pass away what will everyone remember most about me? Since I don't think they will see a medium for me to say what they need to hear, should I write them a letter that lets them know how much I love them? Someone I know found many little notes that their Mother left scattered everywhere throughout her house. She knew they would have to go through her belongings after she passed away. She wanted to make things easier for them by finding the notes to distract them with a pleasant thought to ease their pain of her passing. As they found each little note it brought a happy memory that made them smile. I started thinking about what I would say to them in a little note. Then I decided to make a plan to get together with them more often and tell them in person how much I love them. After an hour or so of wandering if their spirits were always watching me, I suddenly realized that there were some things that I had to admit, I hoped they didn't see.

A camping trip is not ruined by rain

You spend time picking a good day for you to go camping. You spend time gathering the supplies that you will need for your camping trip. You excitedly wait for the day to come so you can go on your camping trip. Then the morning finally comes. But before you can even start to pack the car, it starts raining. Now you have to wait for the rain to stop to pack your car. You are hoping that it isn't raining at the campground. As you are waiting, you check the weather forecast for that area. Unfortunately there is a widespread area of rain there too that is expected to be around the whole weekend. There wasn't even a chance of rain predicted but it is going to be a rainy weekend. Before you get angry be thankful you didn't get all the way there and get your tent set up, then the rain started. Now that would be agrivating. Could you imagine not only was it raining but you also had to pack everything up in the rain and bring home the wet stuff. Now that would have been horrible. Be thankful that not only did the rain start before you left but it started before you packed the car, so nothing got wet. Your family may be disappointed but you have to be thankful you and your belongings are dry. Now you can still go camping as a family, you just have to camp out in your house. You can create memories of building a tent together indoors. Obviously not what you had planned or that you had ever thought of doing. But a once in a lifetime adventure of camping that none of you will forget. Instead of letting it anger you and ruin your weekend, let it inspire you to get creative. You probably will go on many camping trips throughout your lifetime but this may be the only time you will get to do it indoors. It might not have been the plan but you can make a plan to enjoy your time together. The weather is always unpredictable despite how well you had planned it.

Keep your guard up so you can protect yourself

You have to look out for yourself because you can't count on anyone else to. It's easy to assume that those around you want what's best for you. But the truth is they will always do what is best for themselves. You can't blame them. So if you don't protect yourself, you have no one to blame but yourself. You have to look out for your best interest not be so niave to get caught in the end unable to stand on your own. You will have many adventures throughout your life with others. But the path you choose on your journey is the path that is best for you in the long run. It's not being selfish, it's being smart enough to know that you have to protect yourself from whatever life may throw at you. Your future will always be the results of what you did yesterday.

You may not always know what to do, but you can do whatever you need to do to find a way to do it. Just because you don't exactly know what to do, doesn't mean you can't do it. There is a first time for everything. You may make a mistake along the way, but you learn from your mistakes. You may want instant gratification but that's not realistic. You will have to put in the time, the effort, and the hard work before you can reap what you sow. Like I read the other day, overnight success can take 10 years of dedication and work. To me that meant the first nine years was a learning phase that was necessary to achieve it. You can only get where you want to be if you keep moving forward on the path you have to take to get there. When you stay focused on the end goal you want to achieve, you will remain focused on getting it done.

Change your bad attitude...

To change your bad attitude just have some gratitude. When you are feeling sad, disappointed or mad you can change your attitude by thinking of things you are grateful for. There are going to be times when things don't go the way you had hoped. Personally I think about how lucky I am that my children and grandchildren are healthy. Once when I was in a car wreck and I was so angry that the other driver had hit me. I was stuck waiting for the police to come make a report when I had no time to wait. Then I thought about all the time I would be inconvenienced while getting my car repaired. Then I realized I needed to be thankful I didn't get hurt. It didn't change the facts but it did change my attitude which made the time waiting easier. You can't change your circumstances but you can change how you feel. And that is something you will be thankful for.

When you need to, you may have to Force yourself

We obviously choose what we are going to do. But there are times in life when the only way you are going to do what you know you have to do, is to force yourself to get up and do it. If it is a necessity that has to get done then force yourself by reminding yourself that if you don't do it, it won't get done. After you get it done you feel so empowered because you now know that you can do anything you need to do. You will be so thankful that you got it done, even more so because you almost didn't do it. Then the next time you need something important done and you are procrastinating, remember you just might have to Force yourself to do it. Take all your excuses of why you can't do it and JUST FLUSH IT out of your mind.

You plan a retreat to have a peaceful and trouble free time

In our busy schedules we get so overwhelmed with too many things to do. We wear ourselves out, day in and day out. We look forward to the time we hopefully manage to get away for a relaxing retreat to rejuvenate ourselves to be able to continue with our busy life. But unfortunately our busy schedules don't allow us to do that more than once a year. Once a year is great to go to an ocean resort or a mountain retreat. But we need a mental and physical break many, many times throughout the year. Luckily in your mind you can find a peaceful trouble free retreat anytime, anywhere, at a moment's notice. All you got to do is take a deep breath and clear your mind so peace of mind has room to get in. When something doesn't quite go as you had planned JUST FLUSH IT out of your mind and you will have a moment to enjoy a mini retreat to relax and get moving again. When you are trying too hard to figure things out, you clog yourself up and then you can't think straight at all, let alone figure it out. Take a deep breath and clear your mind. Then you can relax and enjoy a mini retreat for a moment and then you will be able to clearly think about it, making it easier to figure out how you are going to do it.

A fortune cookie away from a fresh outlook

For many years I have been collecting fortune cookies. Surprisingly I have never gotten the same fortune. I am fascinated by the fact that they make you stop and ponder what it means. My blogs are a lot like them. They are simply random thoughts to give you a break from a hectic day. A chance to FLUSH away your stress and get a fresh breath of oxygen. My fortune cookie today said " He who laughs, lasts." I literally had to keep reading it over and over again to figure out what it meant to me. Usually I instantly get sent into a direction of thought. This one sent me in two different directions. What does it mean to you? In the fast paced World we live in catching a fresh breath of oxygen is a rare occurrence. But oxygen is necessary to think clearly and stay healthy. Find ways to stop throughout your day to take a deep breath and collect your thoughts. Even a fortune cookie can give you a fresh outlook.